Tomorrow is Memorial Day, a time to remember, mourn and express gratitude for those who have died in service to America in war. Yet, the weekend has become a time to celebrate the change of season, as spring reaches its fullness and becomes summer, with it's images of outdoor freedom. To the heaviness of war and loss, we have come to add the joy of sharing summer. Last year, that sense of summer brought terrible surges in the Pandemic; hopefully this Memorial weekend will be different. War remains heavy, including our metaphor of war against the Pandemic, and a contemplation of the sacrifices made by first responders, medical staff and essential workers. It all seems a strange mixing of emotions, tragedy, heroics, and celebration. But these polarities can meet in the human reach for meaning. As the American poet Archibald MacLeish wrote his poem "The Young Dead Soldiers Do Not Speak":
"...They say, We leave you our deaths: give them their meaning: give them an end to the war and a true peace: give them a victory that ends the war and a peace afterwards: give them their meaning. "
We are the ones that shape the meaning. We honor the sacrifice by our recognition and gratitude, and by remembering. And we expand that meaning, as we expand spiritually, moving beyond a world that is full of division and conflict, to a mystical revelation of ourselves and those who have sacrificed. Follow the link to America's poet laureate for 2019-2021, Joy Harjo's poem "Remember." (Susan Nettleton)
https://wordsfortheyear.com/.../05/25/remember-by-joy-harjo/